Reconstruction
by NerdCookie13
Summary: When an attack on the sand villege leaves it in a state of disaray, Ino and Shikamaru are sent there to help out. Will romance bloom between the ever cold Kazekage and the peppy Ino? gaaxino and slight shikaxtema. Please R&R! May be slight OOCness. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (unfortunately). The story is mine however so I hope you enjoy it!

And just a warning note... If you try to steal my story and pass it off as your own I shall strike you down with lightning and make sure you never write or do anything of the sort again... Have a nice day :3

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><p>"Jeez, why is it so hot~!" Ino whined, throwing her head back as she walked.<p>

"Because Ino, it's the desert." Shikamaru answered her retorical question. She really hated when he did that. Ino shot him a glare and stuck her tongue out at him. Ino heard a high chuckle come from behind her and shot a glare at the person it had come from.

"Sure Temari, make fun of my pain. And why the hell aren't you sweating?" Ino questioned the sand shinobi.

"Because I live here." Temari answered, shooting Ino a grin. Ino stuck her tongue out at her as well. Yeah, a bit immature, but she didn't really care. She was hot and sweaty and her skin was blistering as they spoke. She had a right to be bitchy. "We should probably speed up a bit or we won't make it to the villege 'til nightfall." Temari said, her attitude changing back into mission mode.

Shikamaru nodded in response and Ino shot him a glare.

"You're only agreeing with her 'cause you wanna sleep with her." she shot at him with a smile firmly in place. He turned his glare on her. Temari laughed hystarically in the background and Ino felt quite satisfied with the blush now forming on Shikamaru's cheeks. He turned away from her and ran ahead.

"Hey! Wait up!" Ino barked at his retreating form. She huffed angrily and sprinted after him, Temari following after the both of them.

. . .

She wasn't quite sure how it had happend, but they were now in an all out race. Shikamaru had fallen behind a while back. Both Temari and Ino figured he just got bored and decided to slow the pace a little bit. _Lazy._ Ino thought, rolling her eyes.

Temari and Ino were neck and neck. Whenever Ino would get ahead a little Temari would catch right back up within a few seconds and the same thing when Temari would get ahead. The walls of the villege were coming into view and both Ino and Temari ran a little faster.

_There is no way I am losing to some spoiled leaf girl. _Temari thought.

_Heh. Eat my dust Temari. _Ino thought with a wide grin spreading across her face. Once they were within a few yards of the villege gates Ino sprinted forward using a burst of chakra in her feet to give her speed.

"THAT'S CHEATING LEAF GIRL!" Temari shouted from behind her. Her grin only got wider. She turned her head to look at the sand shinobi behind her.

"YOU NEVER SAID I COULDN'T!" Ino shouted back at her. She could see the annoyed look on Temari's tanned face growing angrier and it only made her laught.

Before she knew what was happening Ino was airborn flying through the air then hitting the sand with a thud and sliding across the ground leaving little scrapes all over her pale skin. Ino was greatful when she came to a halt. She sat up and rubbed her head where she'd banged it on the not-as-soft-as-it-looks sand. She stopped her movements when she saw a figure in front of her. Her eyes traveled up the red clothing to meet a pair of jade eyes.

Gaara looked down at her blankly, no emotion evident on his face. After a moment he extended a hand to help her up, quite to Ino's surprise. She took his hand and pulled herself up and brushed the sand off her outfit.

"Hahaha, you complete klutz. That was _real _smooth." Temari choked out between laughs when she caught up to Ino. Shikamaru walked up behind Temari with a large smile on his lips.

_You traitor. _Ino thought glaring at the chuckling Shikamaru.

"Let's go." Gaara said, shocking every. He turned and began walking away as if he just assumed we would follow him without question. Either that or he didn't care if we followed or not. Ino guessed the latter. Temari followed after her brother with Shikamaru in tow. Ino rolled her eyes at them and followed after the red head as well.

. . .

When Ino traveled, the thing she loved most was to see the beautiful scenery of each country and the differences in their architecture. In Suna however, there was really nothing to look at. There was absolutley no shrubbery at all, and the only thing close to a mountain you'd find around here were the giant sand dunes. Same thing for the architecture. Almost every building in Suna looked exactly the same. Big, and brown. That pretty much described everything in Suna.

Ino let out a sigh as they continued to walk through the villege. One thing that intrieged her in this boring villege was the way people looked at Gaara when he passed. Some of them looked at him with admiration, but most of them had fear in their eyes. A few of them even backed away when he went by. And yet he showed no signs that it bothered him in the least. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

They stopped in front of a large clay building near the Kazekage tower.

"These are the guest apartments," Temari explained. "This is where you two get to stay while you're here." she finished. Gaara walked towards the building without saying a word. _Did he ever say anything?_ Ino wondered. She shrugged it off and followed the group into the large building. They went up three flights of stairs before settling on the fourth floor of the eight story building. Gaara didn't say anything (big shocker) and kept walking down the hall.

He stopped in front of a door with the number fourty eight on it.

"This is your room." Gaara said looking at Ino. She was shocked that he had spoken but kept her composure as he opened the door to let her in. The entire group followed her into the exceptionally well sized apartment. Temari placed a small set of keys in her hand.

"You'll need to be at the hospital bright and early tomorrow morning so be sure to get enought sleep." Temari told her. Ino gave her a smile and nodded. Shikamaru gave her a quick smile and a hand wave before leaving with the two sand shinobi to find his own room. He shut the door quietly behind him as he left.

And then she was alone.

Ino wandered into the small livingroom area and looked around. She did this with the small kitchenette as well. Ino gasped in happiness when she walked into the large bedroom. There was a king sized bed pushed up against the center of one of the far walls and a long dresser and closet on the other side. There was a door directly across from the main door that she assumed (and really hoped) led to the bathroom. She _desperately _needed and wanted a nice hot shower.

She opened the door and was once again happily surprised. The bathroom was much bigger than she had expected and even had a large bathtub. She squealed in delight at the thought of taking a bubble bath and left the bathroom.

Ino dropped her bags on the bed and started rummaging through one of them. She found a spare set of clothes and folded them over her arm. A knock sounded at the door and she let out a groan. Ino placed the clothes on the bed and went to answer the door.

Temari stood alone on the other side of the door when she opened it.

"What's up?" Ino asked her.

"Just here to warn you in advance. Someone will be by later tonight to get you. We're taking you and Shikamaru out to dinner tonight." Temari explained, leaning up against the door frame lazily.

"We?" Ino questioned.

"Yeah. Me, Kankuro, and Gaara. Just a little 'welcome to Suna' thing. My idea." she explained. Ino's stomach grouled at the thought of food.

"Haha, guess you're hungry. Well, go get cleaned up and one of us will be by later to get you." she said. Ino nodded with a small giggle and retreated back into her room. She once again grabbed the clothes off her bed and retreated to the luxurious bathroom.

. . .

"Woooh. I feel refreshed." Ino breathed out. She brushed her long blonde hair into her signature high ponytail and gave it one last tightening tug before stepping back and taking a good look in the mirror. She was dressed in her usual cropped purple top and skirt and her blue eyes glistened. She nodded acceptingly at her reflection and walked back towards the bed.

She plopped down onto the mattress and was very impressed at the softness of it. What she wasn't quite sure about was why, in a place where temperatures ranged from 90 on a good day to almost 120 on others, there was a thick comfertor drapped over the bed. A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts and she shrugged it off and went to to answer the door.

To her surprise, it was Gaara who had come to get her for dinner.

"Hey Kazekage, I didn't expect you to be the one to get me." she stated. "Just give me a minute to get my shoes." she told him and left the door open as she retreated into the bedroom to get her shoes.

"Okay, i'm ready." Ino exclaimed emerging from the bedroom, shoes firmly on her feet. Gaara stood aside so Ino could get through the door. She closed and locked it on her way out and fell into step beside Gaara.

"Gaara." said the red head beside her.

"Pardon?" Ino questioined.

"Call me Gaara." he explained to the blonde next to him.

"Ohh. Alright." she said. The pair lapsed back into silence.

. . .

The resteraunt wasn't what she had expected. Not in the least. Ino had been expecting something fancy, or anything other than a small ramen shop really. Not that she was disappointed or anything, she just wasn't expecting it. Temari, Kankuro, and Shikamaru were already waiting there when they arrived.

"Why are you guys here first?" Ino questioned. Shikamaru looked up at the blonde and smiled.

"Because some of us don't need nearly as long to get ready." he said obviously poking at one of her weak spots. Ino has tried extremely hard to get to where she is. Rather than taking an hour or so to get ready like she would have only a few years ago, she now only took about fifteen or so. She was tired of being the prissy little girl who spent more time on her hair than her training, so she changed.

"Shika..." Ino growled out at the grinning shinobi before her.

"Now now Ino, you know he's only teasing. Don't bite his head off now." Temari interjected. I turned my glare on her but only for a moment then let a small giggle of a laugh escape my lips. I leaned down to Shikamaru's ear and whispered.

"You'll pay for that one shadow boy." she whispered to him then sat on the chair next to Temari. Gaara placed himself on the other side of Ino but didn't say a word.

They all placed their orders and set off chatting amongst one another. Even Gaara got something to Ino's surprise.

_What, did you think he didn't eat or something? _A voice in Ino's head questioned. She rolled her eyes at the stupid thought and continued her conversation with Temari.

Gaara said barely anything for the entire evening and it was starting to irk Ino. Thought she wasn't sure why. She decided it was time to strike up a conversation with the silent Kazekage.

"So Kazekage, why did you meet us at the gate? I'd think your schedule would be pretty tight considering what's going on." Ino asked the red head.

"I wanted to meet you." he answered. For a moment Ino thought he wouldn't, but he had and she was quite pleased.

"So, who will be giving me the tour of the hospital tomorrow? I mean, if it's not too much trouble." she asked him. He was silent for a moment, presumably mulling it over in his mind. Not that you could tell from the blank expression permanently on his face.

"I will give you the tour myself." he finally answered. Ino was slightly taken aback by his declaration.

"Don't you have other things to do?" she questioned.

"Oh, i'm sure he does. He probably just doesn't want to do them." Kankuro said. Temari laughed next to Ino and Ino began to giggle along with her.

"If it isn't too much of a trouble." Ino said looking back towards the Kazekage.

"None at all." he said. He really didn't say much, but she guessed she would just have to get used to that. She gave Gaara a small smile and turned her attention back towards Temari and Shikamaru.

Kankuro let out a low yelp as his new (extremely hot) bowl of ramen spilled all over the front of him. He stood up so quickly that he lost his balance and went tumbling to the ground. Temari and Ino burst into a fit of hysterical laughter. Shikamaru was laughing too, but not quite as hystarically as the two girls were. Temari had her head on the counter and was banging her fist on the counter. Ino was holding her stomach as a tear slid down her cheek from her laughing so hard.

When she looked over at Gaara she nearly missed the small upturn of the corner of his lips. It was gone too quickly for her to get a good look, but she knew what it was. _He almost smiled. _She thought in shock. She looked him a moment longer as he started down at his now laughing older brother, and felt a great yerning to see him smile again.


	2. Chapter 2

Gaara had urgent Kazekage business to take care of, so it was Temari who ended up walking Shikamaru and I home after Kankuro's disappearing act after his accident.

After the sun went down it had gotten surprisingly cold. _Really _cold. Ino had her hands wrapped firmly around her arms in an attempt to keep in some heat. It wasn't really helping all that much. Shikamaru and Temari had fallen into a slow pace behind Ino and were carrying on a conversation that Ino couldn't nor really wanted to hear.

When they arrived at the guest quarters Ino waved good bye to Temari and headed up quickly to her room without looking back to see if Shikamaru had bothered to follow her or if he'd stayed behind with Temari. She closed the door behind her and leaned up against the now very cold wood. She shivered as the chilled material touched her skin.

Ino let out a sigh and retreated to the bedroom to get ready for bed. She took another shower, this time just to get warm, then went through her nightly ritual of brushing her teeth, putting up her hair, and putting on her PJ's. Her normal PJ's would have been a pair of short purple shorts and a light purple tank top, but given the current weather, she decided against wearing that and instead put on the sweat pants and lone longsleeved shirt she'd brought with her just in case.

Now she understood what the big fluffy comfertor was for. Ino slid under the covers and revelled in the warmth it gave her. She wrapped the blanket firmly around her before drifting off into a peaceful sleep.

. . .

Ino was woken by an annoyingly loud scratching noise. She sat up reluctantly when the noise didn't stop and rubbed her sleepy eyes. She looked at the clock on the bed side table next to her and sighed deeply when she discovered that it was only three o'clock. _Where is that stupid noise coming from?_ Ino thought angrily. She got up from the bed, immediatley missing the warmth of her bundle of blankets and pillows, and went to look out the small window in the living room area.

Sand filled the air making it nearly impossible to see anything outside. The sand scraped up against the walls of the building causing the scratching noise she'd heard earlier. That noise was now accompanied by the ear splitting howl of the wind blowing viciously outside.

_Was it like this every night? _Ino wondered. She certaintly hoped not, because if so, she would never get _any _sleep.

Another sigh escaped Ino's now very dry lips, the air tickling her dry throat and making her cough. She went into the little kitchen and got a small glass of water before making her way back into her room. She took a large gulp of the clear liquid and after setting the glass on her bedside table, cuddled back into her bundle of blankets, placing a pillow over her head, and tried desperately to drift back into the land of dreams.

The pillow did nothing to block out the howling and scratching coming from outside. While this didn't deter her from _trying _to go back to sleep, it did inate her ability to actually do so.

Ino laid in this half-awake state until she saw the glint of sun coming through the window in the living room through her open doorway. Her brain felt foggy from the lack of sleep as she slipped once again from her warm bundle. The temperature was starting to return to Suna's normal blistering heat and she wasn't sure if she like the heat or the cold better.

Ino dragged her lifeless body into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her. After taking a shower Ino felt somewhat rejuvinated and ready to take on the day. She dressed in a pair of purple capri's and a purple halter top.

In the middle of putting her hair up there was a knock at her door. Ino let out a sigh and finished putting up her hair before going to see what someone wanted from her this early in the morning.

She yanked opened the door with a glare set on her pale features, and immediatley lost the look when she was met with the sight of the red headed Kazekage standing there.

"Oh Gaara, umm, what are you doing here?" she asked him slightly confused. Gaara stared down at the blonde kunoichi with his usual blank gaze.

"I'm here to give you the tour of the hospital." he replied. Ino mentally slapped herself on the head for momentarilly forgetting about the tour.

"Oh that's right. Sorry Kazekage. I just wasn't thinking you'd show up this early you know?'' she responded. He continued to stare down at her with that unblinking gaze of his. To most people, his gaze was extremely unnerving, but Ino wasn't bothered by it at all.

"Give me a minute and I'll go get my things." Ino said when Gaara said nothing, disappearing into her apartment. She emerged again a minute later with her shoes on and her weapons pouch around her waist. She was sure she probably wouldn't need it, but it made her feel better having it with her.

"Let's go then." Gaara said, turning to walk away. Ino followed beside him in perfect step with him.

Eyes followed them viciously as they walked through the villege. Some looked with intregue, others with disdain. Ino wasn't sure why people glared at Gaara so, but she felt sorry for him, even if he didn't mind it himself.

The silence between the two of them was starting to become extremely uncomfortable on Ino's part and she racked her brain for something that she could use to strike up a conversation.

"Hi Kazekage-sama!" squealed a few children off to the side in the market place. They were bouncing up and down waving frantically with their little hands trying to get Gaara's attention. _How sweet. It's nice to know that not everyone here thinks of Gaara as the monster he used to be._ Gaara lifted his hand to wave back at the excited children, eliciting yet another abnoxiously adorable squeal from the children.

Gaara caught the graceful smile that appeared on Ino's lips when he waved at the children. He couldn't understand why such a small gesture would elicit such a response, but found that he quite liked it when she smiled like that.

"This is it?" Ino questioned when they came to a hault in front of a small three story building.

"Yes, this is the hospital. Is there something wrong with it?" Gaara questioned the bubbly blonde beside him. Ino shrugged her shoulders at his question.

"Just a little... small I guess. The one in Konoha is much larger." Ino said. Gaara stared down at her for a moment then looked back up at the building before them.

"I suppose it may seem small to others, but it seems to suit our needs just fine." he replied. Ino was quite pleased that she'd gotten more than a few sylabols in his response. The man was certaintly the master of the monosylable.

"Alright, as long as its size isn't a hindrance then I won't comment on it again." Ino stated. With a small nod to the blonde, Gaara glided towards the entrance to the hospital. Gaara held the door open for Ino and recieved a greatful smile from the bubbly girl. Gaara went in after her and let the door close gracefully behind him in a way only he could manage.

"Wow, seems bigger from the inside." Ino said, looking every which way, examining everything she could lay her eyes on. The small girl at the reception desk waved extatically at Gaara who barely seemed to notice, which Ino found quite funny. The girl shot Ino a small glare before returning to her work. _What did I do?_ She thought, glaring back at the girl. She shook it off and followed the now retreating Gaara.

"Kazekage-sama, what a pleasure to have you here." said the balding middle aged man who had just stepped out in front of us.

"Ah, Mr. Daijiro, this is Yamanako Ino, the Leaf Kunoichi that has been sent here to assist us." Gaara said to the grumpy looking man. He did not look like he was having a very good day, or maybe that was just how he looked. Ino wasn't sure.

"Yamanaka, this is Daijiro Ishi, one of our head surgeons. You could learn a lot from him." Gaara said. Mr. Daijiro looked Ino over and the look in his eyes said he wasn't terribly impressed with her.

"Hello Mr. Daijiro, it's nice to meet you." Ino said extending a hand to the doctor. The man looked down at her outstretched hand but would not take it. After a moment Ino retracted the hand. "I'm hoping I get a chance to work along side you, it'd be nice to see the different techniques you use." she finished.

"Yes, that would be nice." he replied after a moment of silence. He didn't seem terribly impressed with her attitude either. "If you'll follow me then, I could show you to the surgery rooms. It might be a good idea to know where they are." he said, sounding not so happy with the idea himself. "If that's alright with you Kazekage of course, you're more than welcome to tag along if you don't have other duties to attend to, but if so then I would be happy to take over the tour." he said, sounding much happier when he talked to Gaara than when he had spoken to Ino.

"That's quite alright. My schedule is clear for the duration of the tour, I would be happy to accompany you and Miss Yamanaka to the surgery rooms." Gaara responded. Ino got a real kick out of the dejected look on the doctors face at Gaara's response. She let a small grin touch her lips, that didn't go unnoticed by Gaara who had also noticed the doctors reaction, then let it fall and let her attitude switch back into work mode.

"Then please, follow me." Mr. Daijiro said, walking in the opposite direction. As Gaara started to follow after the doctor Ino grabbed his shoulder and whispered quickly in his ear.

"Oh, and by the way, call me Ino." she whispered then bounced off to walk next to the overly grumpy surgeon. Gaara stared after her in slight shock for a moment before he too followed.


	3. Chapter 3

The tour of the hospital took most of the morning. Dr. Daijiro was quite reluctant to show Ino anymore of the hospital than he found necessary, but with Gaara there, there wasn't much he could do about it.

"Man am I hungry." Ino stated as she stretched her arms. She let out a sigh as she let her arms fall back to her sides.

"I'll take you to lunch if that's alright." Gaara said. Ino looked up at him and let smile spread across her lips.

"That'd be great, thanks Gaara." Ino said still grinning up at the expressionless boy in front of her.

They left the hospital in search of a suitible place to eat. Rather than going and sitting down at a restaurant, Ino decided she would rather go to the market place and see what kind of Suna delicacies she could find. They scuttled around from stand to stand looking over the contents of each stand carefully before moving to the next stand.

Ino was the one doing most of the looking, Gaara just followed quietly behind the vivacious Kunoichi as she bounced from stand to stand.

"Okay, I have no idea what to get. Gaara, you pick something for me." Ino said, turning to face the red headed Kazekage. Gaara looked down at her for a moment before turning to the stand behind them and ordering something. Ino bounced up and down excitedly at the prospect of eating something mysterious and new. Ino always loved to try new things and she wasn't afraid to eat anything he threw her way.

"Here you go Kazekage sir." said the man managing the stand Gaara had just ordered from. Gaara took the plate from the man and brought it over to where Ino stood anxiously waiting. Ino took the plate and stared down excitedly at the contents. There were three white buns sitting on the plate. Ino wasn't sure what was going to be inside of them, but she was itching to find out.

Ino took one of the buns in her pale hand and took a large bite. Flavors exploded in her mouth as she chewed the wonderful food. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she let her eyelids flutter closed. After she swallowed she let out a sigh of pure delight.

"Kami Gaara, these things are GREAT! You are definitley picking the food from now on." Ino said excitedly smiling up at Gaara. Gaara felt the great urge to laugh at the girls overly extatic reaction to something a simple as food, but pushed the urge back and maintaned his blank face and still composure.

Ino saw a glint of what looked like amusement pass through Gaara's green eyes and was disappointed when it disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared. Ino took another bite of her food and bounced off into the crowd with Gaara following silently behind her.

Ino found it almost strange how comfortable she felt around Gaara, but didn't question it. She preferred to just go with the flow of things anyway.

There wasn't much to see in Suna, but Ino tried her best to enjoy her lunch break as much as she could. After finding nothing of interest in town, Ino decided that she would pay a visit to Shikamaru and see what he was up to.

Shikamaru was currently involved in rebuilding some of the houses that had been destroyed in the attack. To Ino's surprise, when she and Gaara arrived, Temari was up on the roof of the building helping Shikamaru with his work. Ino giggled at the looks they would give each other when they thought the other one wasn't looking.

Gaara saw the amusement in Ino's face at his sister's behavior and the corner of his lips lifted just the tiniest bit. Ino noticed this but didn't say anything.

"Hey! Shika!" Ino yelled at the spikey haired shinobi. Shikamaru jumped slightly and looked in Ino's direction. He was about to smile down at her when his foot slipped and he went tumbling down the roof. Just as he was about to go over the edge, Temari grabbed him by the wrist and hauled him back up onto the safety of the roof.

Shikamaru let out a sigh of reliefe and slumped his shoulders. Temari hesitated before letting go of Shikamaru's wrist and glaring down at the idiotic blonde Kunoichi below. Ino had an apologetic look on her face and yelled sorry up to them. Temari rolled her eyes at the blonde and turned back to Shikamaru to check and see if he'd been injured.

. . .

"That was a really stupid move you do realize that right?" Temari retorted at Ino. At that moment, Ino felt rather small compared to the angered sand Kunoichi before her.

"I said I was sorry. What more can I do?" she remarked. Temari once again rolled her eyes at Ino and tuned her head away.

"Oh come on girls, don't be so troublesome. Just make up and get over it already. I'm fine so I don't see what the problem is." Shikamaru said, which he soon found out wasn't such a smart idea.

"The _problem _is that you might not have been okay if I hadn't been there to catch you." Temari spat at him. Shikamaru sighed and met the Temari's gaze.

"But you'll always be there to catch me so I shouldn't have to worry." A crimson blush snuck its way to Temari's cheeks and settled there. Whatever you could say about Shikamaru being lazy, he did have a way of making girls just plain melt.

Ino tittered from her seat across the table (they'd moved to a little resteraunt after Shikamaru's almost-fall.) next to Gaara. Temari was too wrapped up in what Shikamaru had said to notice Ino's chuckle, though everyone else noticed, including Gaara. Shikamaru gave Temari and small smile and turned back to Ino.

"So how was the tour of the hospital?" he asked her. Ino shrugged as she took a bite of the small cake she had ordered.

"It was... small. But the facilities were decent and _most _of the staff was nice." Ino said. Shikamaru snickered across the table. Temari had recovered and was now seeping back into reality. "Speaking of the hospital," Ino began, checking the small watch she had wrapped around her wrist. "I should probably be getting back." Ino finished getting up from her seat at the table. Gaara followed and stood next to her at the end of the table. "I'll see you later, 'kay?" she said.

"Yeah, later." Shikamaru replied with a small smile. "We should probably be getting back to work too." Temari nodded and the two also exited the booth.

The group left the small restaurant and went their seperate ways.

"So, do you have to get back to your Kazekage duties or are you my semi-permanent shadow for the day?" Ino asked Gaara as they walked back towards the hospital.

"I'll drop you off at the hospital but I must be getting back to work." Gaara responded in his usual gravely tone. Ino felt a pang of disappointment at his response but pushed it back and put a smile on her face.

"Okay." was all she said.

As promised, Gaara dropped her off at the front doors to the hospital and went his own way back towards Kazekage tower. Ino couldn't pull her gaze away from his retreating form. She shook her head and turned away, entering the hospital.

. . .

Ino didn't do as much work in the hospital as she would have liked. She oversaw three surgeries and helped out with some of the recovering patients, but wasn't able to do more because of her new -and unwanted- shadow Dr. Daijiro. He spent the entire day following her around making sure she didn't screw something up.

The first few times he tried to correct her on her work, she respectfully disreguarded his advice and continued on with her work. But after a certain point, she just snapped. He tried to correct her on a technique she was using in surgery and she just went off on him, yelling at him about how she was versed in some of the newest medical techniques and how he should just keep his mouth shut and let her work.

They were at each others throats for the rest of the day.

Ino closed the door to her apartment with a sigh and slumped against the cool wood. She closed her eyes and just stood there, drinking in the wonderful silence.

She was absolutley exhausted.

After a moment her legs began to cramp up from the position and she retreated to the bedroom. The thing she wanted most right now was a nice warm bath to wash away the misfortunes of the day. She grabbed her things and rushed the bathroom in a flash, anxious to get int here before something else could happen that would put her in a worse mood.

Ino turned on the water and let the bath fill up . When the steaming water touched her skin it was like pure heaven. She sank thankfully into the water and closed her eyes, letting the world disappear. Her tense muscles unwound themselves in the soothing waters and she soon found herself drifting off into unconciousness.

. . .

A loud bang at the door made her jump, sending water over the edge of the bath and onto the floor. She didn't know how long she'd been asleep, but however long it was long enought that the bath water had gone from steaming hot to almost room temperature. The sun had almost completely disapperaed behind the mountanous sand dunes.

With another knock Ino was out of the bath and wrapping a towel around herself.

"Hang on a minute!" she yelled into the empty apartment, hoping that whoever was outside could hear her. She finished wrapping herself in a towel and after toweling off her hair a bit she rushed to the door. She opened to door to reveal a rather bored looking Shikamaru.

"Jeez Ino what took so long?" he asked, not at all phased by her scantilly dressed appearance. He'd known her far too long to be bothered by her lack of modesty.

"Sorry, I uh... heh, I kinda fell asleep in the bath." she said with an embarrased smile. Shikamaru let out a sigh and shook his head with a small smile appearing on his lips.

"Man Ino, you can be so reckless sometimes. You do realized you could have drowned right? Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to go grab some dinner, I'm starved and I figured the Kazekage wasn't gonna take us out twice." Shikamaru said. Ino's stomach growled at the mention of food and she let out a small chuckle.

"Oh man, food sounds great. Hang on a second while I go get dressed." Ino said then bounced off into the apartment leaving the door open for Shikamaru to come inside. Shikamaru wandered in, closing the door behind him. He automatically found his way to the couch and plopped himself down to wait for Ino.

Ino emerged only minutes later, fully dressed and ready to go. Shikamaru pushed himself up from the couch and followed the bubbly girl out the door. Ino locked the door behind her before marching on.

They decided to go to the ramen shop they'd gone to on the first night they'd arrived. They ordered their food and lapsed into conversation.

"Sooo Shika, what's going on with you and Temari?" Ino proded. Shikamaru let out yet another sigh and turned to face the blonde.

"Why is it so necessary for you to stick your nose in my business?" he asked her. She grinned at him and replied.

"Because, this place so far is pretty boring and you guys' relationship is the most entertainging thing i've found around her. So spill shadow boy." Shikamaru shook his head and lowered his gaze.

"There's nothing to spill Ino, we're not even going out. Yeah, I like her okay, but there's nothing going on." he said meeting her gaze again. This time it was Ino's turn to sigh.

"Jeez Shika, you're kind of oblivious you know that? It's obvious she's into you. Why don't you ask her out?" Ino said. Shikamaru stared at the blonde dumbly for a moment before answering.

"Because, to be quite honest... she kind of scares me." he said. Ino burst into laughter, clutching her stomach and doubling over. She recovered after a minute and faced her friend again.

"Come on Shika, you can't hold back you feeling just 'cause she _scares _you. Just go for it okay?" Ino said. Shikamaru let another sigh escape his lips as the food arrived.

"I'll think about it okay?" he said. Ino settled for his answer and dug into her food.

After dinner the pair walked back to the guest apartments and said their good bye's at Ino's door. Ino watched her longtime friend retreat down the hallway then entered her apartment and prepared for bed.


	4. Chapter 4

_Fire spread across the ceiling making the rafters above groan. Ino darted through the burning building as fast as she could trying desperately to get everyone out before the building collapsed. She checked floor after floor, choking on the smoke as she went. Fire licked at her heels as she ran, but she wouldn't stop, not until she was sure everyone was out. She checked room by room, her vision becoming blurrier by the second. When she reached the end of the hallway she heard a voice. She rushed into the room the voice was coming from and gasped at the sight she was met with. _

_"Gaara!" she screamed as she ran towards the collapsed red head. The rafters above him groaned from the stress and-_

Bang! Ino groaned and sat up slowly, rubbing the spot on her head where she'd bumped it on her nightstand. Her blonde hair stuck to her face with sweat and her nightshirt was bunched up around her stomach.

Ino pulled the baggy shirt down and wiped the sweat from her face. She picked herself up off the floor and headed for the bathroom. The sky outside was slowly lightening from it's dark blue shade to a lighter one that signified the sun was rising. Ino rubbed her eyes and turned on the water to the shower.

When she finished with her shower she didn't feel as refreshed as she usually did.

_Maybe it was that nightmare._ She thought. The nightmare had left her with a really uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She'd felt so devistated when she'd seen Gaara in such a state.

She pushed back thoughts of the nightmare and left the apartment.

Ino walked slowly down the hallway, staring at her feet as she went. She got about halfway down the hall before colliding with a solid wall of flesh. She fell backwards landing firmly on her ass with a squeal. _Jeez, how many times am I gonna fall today? What a great way to start the day. _She thought. When she looked up her eyes met a pair of gorgeous jade ones, and for a moment, she couldn't persuade herself to look away.

She suddenly realized exactly who it was she was staring at and thrust herself up off the ground so quickly she nearly feel over _again. _

"Oh, sorry Kazekage. I didn't see you there." she said after righting herself.

"It's alright." Gaara replied.

"So what brings you here? Not that you can't go for a morning walk or anything it's just that this would be kind of a strange place to walk and..." Ino cut herself off mid-babble and set an embarrased smile on her pink lips. "Sorry, I have this tendency to babble and not realize i'm doing it." she told the red head before her.

"It's fine, I was actually coming here to pick you up." he said. Ino let a confused look set on her face.

"Pick me up?" she questioned him.

"To take you to the hospital." he replied. Ino couldn't understand why he would do this, but she found it quite sweet.

"Oh, you didn't have to do that." she told him.

"It's not a problem." he said. Ino smiled sweetly up at him.

"Well, I was going to get some breakfast before I headed over to the hospital. Would you like to join me?" she asked him. Gaara seemed momentarily stumped as to how to answer. Ino guessed not many people around here wanted to spend much alone time with him outside of work.

"Sure." was all he said, but it delighted Ino regaurdless.

"Great." she said and started walking down the hall.

"Come on, let's go." Ino said when Gaara didn't move. She went back to where he was standing, grabbed his hand and pulled him along with her down the hallway.

The momentary expression of shock on Gaara's face was lost to Ino since she was in front of him. Gaara wasn't used to people touching him. As a child, he wasn't touched or shown affection, so he wasn't sure how to react when such things were presented to him. Her hand was soft under his and he found he didn't want her to let go.

. . .

"You really didn't have to pay for the meal Gaara." Ino said as they made their way through town to the hospital.

"Don't worry about it." he replied. Ino gave him a big grin and continued walking. Gaara watched her as she walked ahead of him. He didn't understand how she had so much energy in her, but decided not to question it and just go with it.

Ino stopped in front of the hospital doors and turned to face Gaara.

"So, are you gonna follow me around today too or do you have to get to work?" she asked him.

"I have things I have to do today." he told her. Ino nodded her head with a small smile on her face.

"I figured. Well, i'll see you later then." she told him. Gaara nodded and walked off in the direction of Kazekage tower. Ino let her eyes follow after him for a moment before entering the hospital.

"Good morning Miss Yamanaka." came the squeaky voice of the young girl at the reception desk.

"Good morning Chie." she replied and walked off down the hallway towards the stairwell. Ino went up to the third floor where many of the minor cases were kept.

"Aw, Miss Yamanaka, and where do you think your going?" Ino flinched at the sound of the harsh voice coming from behind her. She knew who was there before she even turned around.

"Oh, Dr. Daijiro, I was just heading over to check on some of the patients I attended yesterday." she told the grumpy looking man coming to a half in front of her. He didn't intimidate her one bit - especially since she was a good six inches taller than him - but he seemed to think she was and it really pissed her off when he tried to boss her around.

"Your services aren't needed up here today Miss Yamanaka. If you wouldn't mind we'd like your help down in records. Some things need alphabetizing." he said with a grin on his face. Okay, now he'd crossed the line.

"Okay, look here mister, i'm not here to rearrange files or to alphabetize things. I'm here to help out with medical things since your currently understaffed because of the attack. Don't treat me like some kind of arrand girl or a janitor 'cause that's not why i'm here." she snapped at him giving him a glare that could have made Shino's toes curl.

He flinched away at her words with a hint of fear in his eyes.

"Y-yes, of course. Umm, carry on with your patients." he stuttered, then turned on his heel and power walked away from her. Ino let out a sigh and turned to walk into one of her patients rooms. She really hated when people treated her like some second rate ninja. She'd worked really hard to get to where she is and she didn't appreciate people underestimating or disrespecting her.

Ino shook off her anger and put on a smile for her patient.

. . .

She tried her best to keep her composure throughout the day, and she did a pretty good job of it, but she could feel the anger boiling up to the surface with every remark one of the doctors would make towards her work or where she should be working.

Ino quit at around five thirty and decided to visit the workout room that was located in the basement of the guest apartment building. She went back to her room, took a quick shower, changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top - purple of course - and headed down the the basement.

The workout room was much larger than she had expected and to her surprise, completely deserted. She was the only one down there, and to be honest, she was actually kind of glad. She wasn't really in the mood for dealing with people at the moment.

There were a few weighs scattered around the floor, a punching bag in the corner, and a large open space in the middle of the room she assumed was for sparring. She decided to start with the weights first.

Ino worked with the weights for a while, steadily increasing the weight until she couldn't lift anymore, but her anger didn't go away. She kept thinking of the way people around here kept treating her and it made her even more mad. She decided to switch over to the punching bag. Maybe hitting something would relieve a little of her stress.

It didn't.

If anything, it only made her angrier. She didn't know where all this anger was coming from and she wanted to get it out of her system before someone ended up on the bad end of an argument with her. Ino wasn't a very pleasant person to be around when she was upset, and while the people in Konoha knew this, the people of Suna weren't quite as knowledgeable of her moods.

She put all of her anger into one final punch and the punching bag fell from the ceiling with the force of it. She hit it so hard it actually went flying across the room, hitting the opposite wall then falling to the ground with a bang.

"Oops..." Ino mummbled under her breath.

"That's quite a punch you have there." Ino spun around to see Gaara leaned up against the entrance to the training room.

"How long have you been standing there?" she asked him.

"Long enough to see you destroy the punching bag." he answered. Ino let out a sigh.

"I'll fix it. Sorry for breaking it." she said looking guilty.

"Don't worry about it. Believe it or not it happens more than you'd think, though I don't belive I've ever seen someone hurl it across the room." he said. Ino let a chuckle escape her lips. An idea popped into her head like a lightbulb popping on in a dark room.

"Hey Gaara, wanna sparr with me?" she asked him. Gaara's eyes widened slightly at her question, the first real show of emotion Ino had seen out of him since she'd arrived.

"Why?" was his response. Ino giggled a bit before answering.

"'Cause, first of all I can't exactly do anything with the punching bag anymore, and second, I've seen what you can do with your sand, but i'm curious to know how your hand to hand fighting skills are." she said. She could of sworn she saw the corner of his mouth lift up a bit, but couldn't be sure.

"If you insist, I suppose I could spare some time." he answered.

"Yay!" Ino exclaimed bouncing her way to the middle of the room to the large open space she'd seen before. Gaara took off the large gourde that was always hung firmly on his back and placed it in the corner of the room. He then walked to the middle of the room to join her.

"No weapons okay? Tai jutsu only." Gaara nodded and Ino let a devilish smile touch her lips. She was excited to see just what the Kazekage of the sand was capable of. She took up a fighting stance across from Gaara.

Gaara did the same, followin her example.

"Ready... GO!" she exclaimed and lunged at him. Gaara easily dodged her first punch and caught her foot as she flung past him. Ino took advantage of this and twirled around twisting her legs around his head and flipping them both over. Gaara landed on his feet in a crouched position throwing Ino backwards over his head.

Ino skidded to a half on her feet behind him. She charged again.

Gaara may not of had his sand, but he was still extremely hard to land a punch on, but eventually Ino succeeded, sending Gaara flying backwards. Gaara came back with a vengence. Fists flew between the two, kicks were exchanged. Grunts from the two of them filled the room as they attacked one another with brutal force.

Ino charged at him again, her arm back prepared to launch another punch at him, but rather than dodging her punch, Gaara took hold of her wrist and pulled her forward twisting his foot around her ankle causing her to lose her balance and fall backwards. She didn't actually fall though, Gaara had one hand still holding her wrist and the other on the small of her back to keep her from falling. His foot was still hooked behind her ankle.

Their faces were mere inches apart, each of them breathing heavily. Ino stared up into Gaara's seafoam green eyes and couldn't seem to look away. The strange part was, he wasn't looking away either, nor was he letting her go.

His warmth was extremely comforting, and his scent was like a drug, intoxicating her with every breath.

They stayed like this for what seemed like an eternity, just standing there staring into each others eyes. Time seemed to past so slowly, all Ino could see was him, the world around her faded to black and her stomach was all in knots.

Footsteps were heard coming down the hallway towards the training room, ending the moment. Gaara looked away from Ino towards the hallway and let Ino go, helping her back into a standing position.

Ino felt unusually cold when Gaara's warmth receeded. Her stomach was still in knots and she felt very awkward for a moment.

"Hey Gaara, you down there?" came Temari's voice from the hallway. After a moment the sand Kunoichi's form came through the doorway of the training room. "There you are. They need you at Kazekage tower. Not sure why, but i've learned to stop questioning the old guys and just go with what they say." Temari said. Temari took a look at the two of them and raised an eyebrow quizically. "What happened down here?" she questioned.

"Just some training. I asked Gaara to sparr with me." Ino answered.

"And he agreed? Good for you, he rarely trains with us. Anyway, Gaara, you better get going before the old geezers throw a fit." said Temari. Gaara nodded at his sister and walked over to the corner to retrieve his gourde.

Before Gaara could leave Ino walked up in font of him after finally regaining her composure.

"You may have won this round, but I definitley want a rematch." she told him. What he did next shocked her to no end.

He smiled. Actually smiled.

"Looking forward to it." he said then walked out. Temari raised her eyebrows at Ino.

"What?" Ino questioned the now smiling blonde.

"Ohh nothing." Temari breathed out still smiling, then followed after her brother before Ino could say anything more.

Ino stared at the empty doorway for a moment.

_Okay... what the hell just happened?_

* * *

><p>*<strong>Woohoo chapter 4 up! I got the idea for the training room scene and thought it would apply nicely to this story. R&amp;R and tell me wht you think! :3 <strong>


	5. Chapter 5

Ino sat on the large couch in her apartment staring blankly at the coffee table. She couldn't stop thinking about what had happened in the training room. While she had changed clothes, her skin still smelled of Gaara, and that made her brain a little fuzzy.

She couldn't figure out what had happened back there. One minute they were beating the shit out of each other, and the next they were having a really emotional staring contest. The knots in Ino's stomach still hadn't receeded, and she began to wonder why they had even formed in the first place. He was the Kazekage of the sand for kami's sake, she shouldn't feel _anything _like that towards him.

A knock at Ino's door gave a hault to her inner babble and a temporary reprieve from her confused thoughts about Gaara. She got up from her place on the couch and answered the door. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw Gaara standing on the other side of the door. She fought to keep her composure as he spoke.

"There is an emergency at the hospital." he told her. Gaara was all business. He didn't seem at all affected by what had happened in the training room while she was trying her damndest to keep from blushing.

She mentally slapped herself back into reality replaying in her head what Gaara had just told her.

"Give me a second and we can go." she said. No matter how awkward she was feeling at the moment, she had to put the hospital first. She, like Gaara, was now in complete business mode. She darted into her bedroom, leaving the front door open for Gaara to either come inside or wait in the hall (his choice). She quickly grabbed her shoes and slipped them on, not caring about the fact that she was dressed in sweat pants and a tank top rather than her usual purple skirt and crop top.

"Alright, let's go." Ino said, gliding past Gaara who hadn't moved from his position in her doorway. She didn't bother to ask what was going on at the hospital that warranted her attention at almost midnight, she just knew that whatever it was she would handle it. She wasn't in the habit of letting people down.

Gaara followed swiftly beside the blonde, for the first time actually fighting to keep pace with her. The walk to the hospital normally took about twenty minutes, but at her hightened pace she made it in ten.

Ino burst through the front doors of the hospital to see it in complete chaos. Nurses frantically wheeled patients into and out of rooms, doctors ran through the halls bursting into rooms to attend to patients. The receptionists desk was flooded with worried loved ones pestering the poor attendant about information she couldn't give them.

Ino stopped one of the frantically scurrying doctors.

"What is going on here?" she asked worriedly.

"There was an accident over by the east wall. Some people who had been working on the buildings over on that side got injured by some falling rocks. The wall must have been damaged in the attack." he answered after a moment's hesitation.

Panic struck Ino suddenly and she had to fight to keep her composure. Shikamaru had been schedule to work over by the east wall today.

_Oh no. Please let Shika be alright._

Ino glanced behind her. Gaara was standing only a few feet away from her, taking in the scene for himself. When his gaze met hers, something like worry danced in his eyes. She turned her head away before he could see the panic in hers and darted off to help the doctors and such.

While the first thing Ino wanted to do was make sure Shikamaru was okay, she was immediately swept away to the surgery.

. . .

Hours past in a blur. Patient after patient with varying degrees of injury. Eventually Ino lost count of how many she'd attended to.

She was beginning to feel light headed, so rather than passing out on the poor patient beside her, she excused herself and went out into the hall, beckoning for another doctor to temporarily take her place.

Ino leaned up against the door and took in a huge breath of air.

The hallway was now quiet, with all the patients either in a room or having been sent home after being treated. Her knees gave out and she slid down the wall, collapsing into a numb heap on the ground. This day had been too much for her. She wasn't equipped to handle this much stress. Sure, she could keep functioning like this for days if she had to, but the physical and mental effect it would have on her afterwords could take weeks to recover from if she didn't rest and recooperate properly.

Ino let her head fall onto her knees and closed her eyes, taking comfort in the stillness of the hospital.

She'd only just started to doze off when she heard footsteps coming down the hall. Ino snapped back into work mode automatically shooting to her feet. She relaxed a little when she saw it was Gaara who was coming towards her and not some doctor or nurse who needed her assistance.

Gaara stopped a few feet in front of her and the look on his face frightened her to no end.

"There's something you need to see." he told her, then turned and began walking down the hall the way he'd come.

Ino had never once, in all the time she'd known him, seen Gaara look genuinly upset or distressed about anything. Not once. She followed without a second thought.

Gaara led Ino into a part of the hospital that, to her surprise, she hadn't seen yet. They walked down multiple hallways and Ino was beginning to get fidgity with anxiety. She barely even noticed when Gaara stopped in front of her. She would have run right into the back of him had she not stopped herself in time.

Gaara looked back at her briefly before opening the door and entering the room he had stopped in front of. Ino followed him cautiously, afraid of what it was he needed to show her so urgently.

On the other side of the room, near the window, was a hospital bed, the top half obscured from vision by a curtain hung from the ceiling. Ino froze. She didn't need to see his face to know who was behind that curtain. There was only one person Gaara would feel was so important for her to see. Ino unfroze and rushed to the side of the bed.

Shikamaru lay motionless in the bed. He was lying on his back, breathing evenly. If she didn't know any better, Ino would have thought he was merely asleep. But she did know better. Gaara wouldn't have looked so distressed when he came to get her if Shikamaru was okay.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked Gaara desperately. He was the only one she _could _ask since there was currently no doctor or nurse in the room other than herself.

"He's in a come." he stated simply. "He was hit on the head by a falling rock while working over by the east wall."

Ino couldn't speak anymore. She could only stare down at her fallen teammate in utter shock. _Why did this happen? _She was distraught with sadness and panic. Ino felt the tears begin to fall, leaving soggy trails down her already sweaty cheeks. She could hear a faint whimpering sound, and she knew it was her who was making it, but she heard it as if from a distance.

Her head began to pound, and she began to feel dizzy. A million thougths were flooding through her brain and none of them were making any sense. She felt herself start to slip and then she plunged into darkness.


	6. Chapter 6

Ino woke feeling extremely groggy. She sat up, wincing at the sound of her back cracking as it echoed around her room. Wait a minute… her room? The events of last night came rushing back to her. She jumped out of bed a bit too quickly and her knees buckled. Ino went crashing to the floor, landing directly on her posterior. She let out a groan of discomfort before getting up and dusting herself off. When had she become such a klutz?

A knock on her door brought her out of her thoughts. She glanced over at her clock. 6:30 am. She ran a hand through her hopelessly knotted blonde locks and went to answer her door. The sight of Gaara standing ever so stoically in front of her door brought ino no surprise. She left the door open and walked away, beckoning the Kazekage inside. She went to her bedroom and changed quickly before meeting Gaara in the living room.

"I'm assuming I have you to thank for bringing me back here last night?" he simply nodded in response. She was more composed than Gaara would have expected. He half expected to walk in this morning and find her curled up in a corner or throwing things about the apartment.

Ino, without saying a word, strolled past the red-haired boy to the door. She held it open and looked back at the man currently loitering in her apartment. Gaara seemed to get the idea and followed her out.

. . .

The hospital was quieter than usual. Not much had happened since the accident at the east wall. The usual hustle and bustle of the establishment had slowed to a crawl in the absence of tragedy. It was both calming and unsettling.

Ino had been sitting there for about 6 hours now. When she'd arrived, Temari had been asleep beside Shikamaru's bed. Ino had sent her home to get some rest and immediately taken her place beside his bed. Gaara had stayed with her for the first few hours, but his position dictated he had other things to attend to, and so he – albeit reluctantly – left her along with her unconscious teammate.

Ino was only just beginning to doze off when Gaara and Temari reappeared. Ino sat up straighter in her chair as Temari approached her. The older blonde put her hand gently on Ino's rigid shoulder. Ino hadn't realized how tense she'd gotten.

"Why don't you go take a break? Get some lunch. I'll take over for a little while." Ino thought about this a moment, then nodded up at the older girl. She left her post by Shikamaru's bed and followed Gaara out, glancing back as Temari took her seat, grasping her teammate's hand tightly in her own.

Ino said nothing as she sat across from Gaara, her untouched food sitting idly in front of her. Gaara watched ino intently as she stared blankly down at her fingers. Her hands were clasped together so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. Gaara, no sure what else to do, gently lay one of his hands over Ino's clasped ones. The tension she'd built up released a bit at the contact. She looked up from the table and offered Gaara a weak smile. Gaara's face remained calm and stoic, but the concern in his jade eyes was enough for her.

. . .

The next few weeks went by pretty much the same. Ino spent most of her time by Shikamaru's side. Either Gaara or Temari would take her to lunch while the other stood watch over the comatose teen. It became something of a pattern of behavior for the three of them. It was only in the past few days or so that Ino had started going back to work. She'd come out of her stupor enough so that she could treat her patients with a smile on her face, be it fake or otherwise. Her routine began to regain an heir of normalcy, aside from the fact that she'd taken to sleeping in her office (a storage closet with a desk in it pretty much) at the hospital. Often one of the interns would go to get some paper or ink and would have to wake her up to get to what they needed.

Despite her attempts to hide it, her own mental condition was slipping, and Gaara knew it. She was over working herself in an attempt to distract herself from her comatose friend. But it wasn't working. Her mind and body were simply exhausted, and continuing to push herself was only making it worse.

"Ino, you need to go home and get some rest." Temari said, leaning over Ino's desk as she worked on some paperwork.

"Temari, I'm fine. There's no reason for me to go home right now anyways. I've got far too much work to do." She replied, never taking her eyes off of the task before her.

"That's not true and you know it. You've been working so much lately that some of the people around here actually have _nothing _to do, which, I must say, is a first. Whatever you're doing right now can wait until after you've taken a good long break." Ino sighed, putting down her pen and rubbing her temples in light little circles. She knew what Temari was saying was the truth, but she didn't want to have nothing to do – or rather, have nothing to keep her distracted.

"She's right you know." Ino glanced up at the sound of the Kazekage's gravelly voice. Gaara was in the doorway of her office, leaning comfortably against the doorframe. Ino sighed again, knowing full well she couldn't argue with both of them. She stood, grunting as her stiff muscles adjusted to the new position.

"Fine," the blonde said. "I'll go home." Temari patted her back as the younger blonde walked past her and out the door. Gaara shot his sister a look before following Ino down the hall.

. . .

Ino didn't speak a word on the way back to her apartment. She was like a statue, her face revealing nothing. It worried Gaara, the way Ino had shut herself down and locked everything inside. From what he'd observed, Ino was a very expressive girl, very open, which only made the way she was acting now all the more unusual. He couldn't explain it, but he'd give almost anything to see the usually peppy blonde woman smile again.

When they reached her apartment Gaara followed Ino inside as he usually did. He wasn't sure what he was planning on doing, but something in his gut told him he couldn't just leave her like this.

Ino plopped down on her couch, leaning her head back and staring at the ceiling. She wasn't sure why Gaara had followed her in here, but in all honestly it was making her a tad uncomfortable, and even a little ticked off. She wanted nothing more than to be alone right now, left to her thoughts and her own personal pity party. It wasn't something she wanted other people to witness, nor was it something she needed anybody else to fix. She could deal with it on her own.

Gaara propped his gourd up in the corner of the room and leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. It was a position he took quite often. Ino wasn't sure if it was just more comfortable for him that way, or if it was just something he did when he wasn't sure what to do with himself. She guessed the latter, but she couldn't be sure.

"If you need to talk about it…" Gaara began, but was immediately cut off by Ino.

"I don't." she snapped, irritated. She didn't need his help. She didn't need _anyone's_ help.

Gaara sighed, closing his eyes for a brief moment. Ino was a stubborn girl, always wanting to take care of things by herself. He couldn't explain it, but he wanted to show her that she didn't always have to do things on her own.

"You shouldn't keep things bottled up." He said, in that monotone, gravely, deep voice of his. Ino's left eye twitched in irritation. She could feel the rage building up inside of her, and if he didn't stop pushing, she was going to burst.

"You're one to talk…" she mumbled, shooting a glare at the red headed man.

She got up and stormed past him into her bedroom. She made it a few feet into the room before she felt a warm hand envelop her wrist. She jerked to a stop, anger seething in the pit of her stomach. She was shaking now, and uncontrollable rage boiling over in her. She turned quickly, her other hand balled into a fist and headed towards the offending red head's face. Gaara caught it with ease, pulling it down to her side and pulling her closer to him.

Ino was thoroughly shocked by this. They were now only a few inches apart, staring into each other's eyes. In any other circumstance she might have blushed, but the anger in her was still boiling at monstrous levels and she couldn't bring herself to feel anything but rage towards the man before her. Ino struggled against his hold, trying desperately to fight back, to land a blow, _anything_. Gaara's grip was relentless and unmoving. Her movements were becoming erratic and unfocused. She was shouting at him now, things he couldn't understand. One of her hands got loose and she began pounding it desperately against his chest. Gaara stood, unmoving as she beat him, letting her get it out of her system. This was what she needed, and if he had to be on the receiving end of it, so be it.

Ino could feel the tears begin to escape, cascading down her cheeks, leaving soggy trails down her flushed skin. She hadn't wanted to cry. She wanted to be strong like her friends. She didn't want to be weak. Eventually she gave in, collapsing against Gaara's chest. She clutched his shirt between her hands and cried her heart out. She sunk to the floor, bringing the Kazekage with her. On any other day she would have been ashamed at such a display, but today, she just wanted to cry. Ino felt Gaara relinquish one of her wrists as he wrapped one of his arms around her shaking body. She clung to him for dear life, needing him to anchor her, to keep her grounded so she wouldn't collapse in on herself.

Gaara simply held her as she cried, letting her rid herself of everything she'd been keeping inside these past few weeks. After a while he noticed Ino had stopped shaking. He looked down at the girl in his arms to find her peacefully asleep. Her cheeks were tearstained and her hair was a complete mess, but somehow, he couldn't help but think how beautiful she looked just then.

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><p><strong>I know it's been SOOOOOO long since i've posted a chapter on this story and I am mega sorry about that. I've just had no inspiration to write and so I just... haven't. But here it is finally! Chapter 6! woohoo! Anyways, sorry that this one is kind of dark, but I was really kind of feeling the sadness that Ino would have felt and thought that it needed to be expressed.<br>**


	7. Chapter 7

**Look! I finally finished another chapter! I hope none of you are toooooooo mad at me... *pleads for forgiveness* aannyywwhhoo... I hope you enjoy it! :3**

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><p>Ino woke up in a cocoon of warmth. Her blankets were wrapped tightly around her body and her pillow had at some point been tossed aside and now lay forgotten on the floor beside the bed.<p>

She wasn't entirely sure how she'd gotten to her bed in the first place. She remembered falling asleep in Gaara's arms (as much as said memory embarrassed her) so she couldn't help but wonder how she'd ended up tucked into bed. Had Gaara put here there? That seemed so out of character. Though now that she thought about it... Maybe it wasn't. He was a hard guy to read sometimes. It really was frustrating sometimes getting to know the seemingly emotionless Kazekage.

Ino finally pulled herself into a sitting position and shoved off her blankets. The air was hot and dry like it usually was, which only made her that much more uncomfortable. Her entire boy ached from last night's outburst. Every muscle screamed at her to lie back down and not move, but she knew better. No matter what happened the night before, she still had a job to do. She got up, mindful of her aching muscles and headed for the kitchen. Her mouth felt like the desert outside of her walls and so her first though was getting something to drink. Immediately. Which is why she didn't notice at first the puff of red hair sticking out past the arm of her couch.

She jumped when she finally saw it, nearly dropping the glass she'd been filling with water. She couldn't help but stare at the opposing figure currently passed out on her couch. She's assumed that Gaara had gone home after apparently tucking her into bed. Obviously she was mistaken. Cause there he was, in all his red robed, pale skinned, stoic glory, gourd propped against the back of the couch, one arm slung over his eyes and the other resting lazily on top of his stomach.

All Ino could do was stare at the man before her. Even after the initial shock faded away her heart was still pumping a little too fast for her liking. She couldn't remember a time she'd ever seen Gaara look so... at peace. He even seemed younger, she noted as she examined his features. His face appeared softer, more relaxed, and his posture was so lax she thought he might be dead could she not see his chest rising and falling with every steady breath. Without even noticing she subconsciously moved closer to the red head. She came to a stop in front of the couch, and slowly dropped into a crouch before the Kazekage's sleeping form. She studied him for a moment, silently committing to memory every line of his being she could.

She wasn't quite sure why, but she rather liked seeing him like this. So vulnerable. Almost childlike. Her hand seemed to move of its own accord as it moved towards the Kazekage. She couldn't believe how smooth his skin was as she traced the line of his jaw. But she supposed it probably would be that smooth, considering very few people have ever actually made contact with it. No scars, no faults, not even a freckle. Just pure, smooth porcelain under her curious fingertips. She traced a path from his chin down his neck and to the hand that rested on his stomach.

His hands were so much larger than hers. Which shouldn't have been surprising considering he was several inches taller than her, and a man. But for some reason this fact fascinated Ino to no end. His fingers were so long. Ino couldn't help bit trace the vein that ran across the back of his hand towards those fingers.

Ino was so lost in her exploration that she didn't notice that Gaara had woken up. She was almost in a trance as she ran her finger delicately across his knuckles, down his thumb and back again. Only when she noticed the Kazekage's breathing pick up a little did she realize her mistake. She jerked her hand back, eyes going wide as she met the emerald gaze of the man before her. Those shining green eyes were peeking out from underneath the arm that had covered them, filled with emotions she'd never seem him convey before. Shock. Confusion. Curiosity. All present in the red heads sleepy but steady gaze. Ino wanted to look away, embarrassed at being caught, but there was something about the way he was looking at her that seemed to paralyzed her.

"I...I'm... I didn't mean..." Ino stumbled for an explanation as to what exactly she'd been doing. But even she couldn't think of a suitable excuse.

A knock at the door made both of them jump, hearts racing a million miles a minute. Ino welcomed the distraction. Anything to take attention away from the elephant currently hovering in the room. She broke her gaze away from Gaara's, which even with the interruption had never left hers. She rushed to the door and yanked it open as quickly as she could manage without seeming desperate. Her heartbeat kicked up another notch when she saw Temari standing awkwardly in the hallway.

"He's awake."

. . .

Those two words had made Ino forget all about her mishap with Gaara. She was out the door before the red haired Kazekage could even process exactly what had just occurred.

Ino barely even waited for Temari as she made her way to the hospital, and more importantly, to Shikamaru. The days since his accident had been pure torture, and here he was, finally awake. Ino couldn't get there fast enough.

Ino was running at a full on sprint through the halls of the hospital. Floor after floor, she couldn't get to Shikamaru's side fast enough. When she finally arrived at his room she practically busted down the door in her haste to get inside. And there he was, sitting up, chatting nonchalantly with Kankuro and one of the nurses she didn't recognize. The group turned at the loud noise Ino had made upon entering. That quirky smile lot up Shikamaru's features and he cocked his head to the side slightly.

"What's up blondie?" The kunoichi couldn't hold herself back and launched herself at the boy before her. "Ouch! Ino that hurts." Shikamaru squeaked (and he would surely be made fun of for doing so later) out as the blonde landed on top of him.

"Sorry." Ino spoke softly, but didn't move. She loosened her grip a little and simply embraced her teammate. While the other night her tears were from sadness and frustration and anger, now they were pure happiness streaming down her face, soaking Shikamaru's hospital gown. He didn't seem to mind though. The spikey haired boy hugged his teammate back eagerly and they simply sat like that. Neither even seemed to notice when Temari finally caught up. The older girl simply leaned against the door frame, out of breath and smiling at the scene before her.

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><p><strong>Yay chapter 7! I really am sorry it's been so long. I don't mean to go so long in between chapters I really don't. School's been kicking my butt pretty hard and I haven't had the time to focus on any of my fanfictions. I want to try to update more often, but unfortunately I can't promise much right now. Also I've been having trouble with the plot. My imagination just isn't flowing the way it should. If any of you guys have any ideas for plot i'm always open for suggestions! Just PM me and I'd love to see what you guys think. Anyway, rant over. Hope you guys enjoyed this latest chapter. Kinda gushy I know, but I just couldn't stand leaving poor Shikamaru in that coma. Love you all! *Silently prays for lots of happy reviews* :3<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Alas I have returned! School is almost over and I've had a lot more time on my hands to write. This chapter just kind of came to me while I was working on one of my final projects. I hope you like it! And thank you to everyone who reviewed. I love you all! :3**

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><p>Shikamaru's recovery was slow going. The doctor in charge of him refused to release him, though I suppose he did have good reason. About a week after Shikamaru woke up, he decided that he was fully recovered and tried to check himself out. He made it about halfway down the stairs before tripping and tumbling down two more flights. Turns out that conk on his head temporarily screwed up his inner ear.<p>

Now he was nursing a broken leg. Go figure.

Ino spent most of her spare time by Shikamaru's side. It seemed like it was beginning to get on his nerves a little actually, not as if she cared. When Ino couldn't be there, Temari was. Sometimes Kankuro even bothered to visit.

Never Gaara though. He visited once the day Shikamaru had woken up, but hadn't been back since. In fact, Ino thought as she sat at her desk ignoring a pile of paperwork the size of Kazekage Tower, she hadn't seen him at all since then. Not once. It had been almost two weeks and she hadn't seen or heard anything from the illusive Kazekage.

It was all just as well she supposed. Ino wasn't entirely positive she was ready to face him after what had happened between them the day Shikamaru had woken up. After the initial rush of emotion from seeing a living, breathing, sarcastic as ever Shikamaru had faded things had gotten awkward fast. Shikamaru chatted away merrily with Temari while Ino and Gaara stood by the door, avoiding each other's gaze at any cost.

Ino groaned and slammed her head into the pile of paperwork. That red headed idiot was going to be the death of her. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't get him out of her head. The feel of his skin, the way he smelled, the green of his eyes as they stared into hers.

_Stupid hormones just go away. No one likes you anyway. _Ino grumbled internally.

As much as she hated it, it kind of stung that he seemed to be avoiding her. Not that it was his job to entertain her, but she hadn't realized how much she enjoyed their random little chats until he wasn't around to have them anymore. _How cliché. _

After a while she gave up on her work. For once the hospital was quiet. No new patients and everything was pretty slow going. She decided to clock out. She told the attendant at the front desk to send someone for her if she was needed and took her leave.

She didn't particularly want to go home. Not much more to do there than there was at the hospital. She resigned herself to walking around the village. Her steps found a steady rhythm and she sort of zoned out, her thoughts going back to the red headed Kazekage plaguing her every thought. She wondered for a moment if she should go visit him, but decided better of it. He was probably busy with important Kazekage stuff. She didn't want to be a bother.

Ino sighed. She didn't know what to do with herself. She refused to admit to having feelings for that super rational, nearly emotionless, too pretty for his own good Kazekage. But… there was something going on. A sick curiosity if nothing else. She wanted to get to know him, to understand what lay underneath that seemingly impenetrable exterior of his. To get underneath that protective layer of sand and find out what he was made of. That was all.

In all her mindless wondering about she had ended up directly in front of Kazekage tower. _Traitor_, she thought at her own body. She hovered in front of the doors, trying to decide whether it was really a good idea to go inside or not. Finally she took a deep breath and went in.

The halls were pretty quiet. It was relatively late in the day, the sun beginning to sink down behind the sand dunes, so she supposed a lot of people were probably beginning to head home for the day. But not Gaara. From what she'd seen and heard, he tended to stay pretty late. Sometimes he didn't go home at all, Temari had told her once.

Speaking of which, "Hey," Temari said with a smile as she approached Ino. She'd come out of a door a little ways down the hall, though Ino hadn't really noticed until she'd spoken.

"Hey yourself," she replied blankly. She was still kind of lost in her thoughts and Temari didn't have a hard time guessing exactly what was on the blonde girls mind.

"He's in his office if you want to talk to him," she said suddenly, a sly smirk appearing on her tanned features.

Ino blushed, unable to stop herself. "Maybe I was here to talk to you," she replied indignantly, cheeks puffed out a little.

Temari chuckled. "Sure," she said, winking at the other girl as she passed her, heading home Ino supposed.

Ino let out a sigh. _Might as well go in now, huh_.

She steeled herself and pushed open the doors to Gaara's office. And lo and behind, she found herself in a very similar situation as the one that had gotten her nerves so wound up in the first place. There Gaara was, asleep in the middle of a pile of scrolls and other assorted documents that Ino was sure he probably shouldn't be sleeping on. But he didn't appear to be drooling so she supposed it was fine.

Any nerves she was previously experiencing vanished at the sight of the peacefully sleeping Kazekage. However, she didn't plan on getting herself into the same mess as she did last time. No, she planned on getting herself into an entirely different kind of mess. She was so going to regret this, but the mischievous side of her just couldn't resist. She could be so childish sometimes.

She slipped off her sandals as quietly as she could and crept across the floor to Gaara's desk. She looked around the cluttered mess that was Gaara's belongings – she really hadn't expected him to quite so… messy – her eyes landing on the largest book, perched precariously at the edge of his desk, threatening to fall right off the edge. It was a good sized book, weighing about ten pounds by how thick it was, and the leather binding had to add some weight. She smirked.

Ino grabbed the book, still being as quiet and stealthy as she could manage, which for a ninja wasn't hard, but sneaking about around another ninja could be tricky. She positioned herself directly to the right of the sleeping red head, in front of the only bare part of his desk, and dropped the book from as high as her arms cold hold it directly onto the hard wood surface below. The resulting sound echoed around the room a good couple of seconds after the initial impact, thought Ino barely noticed. She was too preoccupied with the red head before her, who hadn't moved an inch despite the deafening noise.

"Gaara?" Ino whispered questioningly.

Still no response. Now she was worried. She came around the back of Gaara's desk and grabbed onto his shoulders, shaking him lightly. Still nothing. _What is going on?_ Ino's heart rate had picked up exponentially, she was really worried now. Scared almost. She reached around and checked his pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief at the slow but steady pounding beneath her fingertips. He was alive, but there was definitely something wrong. His pulse was steady but weak, and his breathing was shallow.

Ino pulled Gaara up into a sitting position so she could get a better look at him. His head lolled back against the back of his chair and Ino gasped. Gaara was a really pale person in general, but his normally porcelain colored skin had taken on a grayish color and his lips were turning blue. Ino ran to the door as quickly as she could and leaned out into the hallway.

"Help! Anybody!" She belted. "The Kazekage's been poisoned!"

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><p><strong>Yep, I am a horrible person. Why would I do that to precious Gaara? There is a purpose. Everything has a purpose... at least that's the plan ;) Anyway, so there it is, chapter 8. Another cliffhanger, cuz I am a mean mean person. Probably won't be updating for a while (Though I suppose that's not really a surprise...sorry) for I will be in Colorado for at least two weeks and will have very little access to a computer. Love you all, please review, and if any of you have any ideas as to how you think the story should progress, please PM me and let me know. I'm always open to ideas :3 <strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello lovelies! I have returned with another short, but hopefully entertaining chapter for you. I know it - as usual - took me quite a while to update, but I hope you are all happy with the way this newest chapter turned out. Anyway, enjoy! :3**

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><p>A medical team was in the room before Ino had even finished calling for help. They pushed passed her, practically shoving the blonde aside in their haste to reach Gaara. Not that she cared. She followed the medics back into the room, hoping to assist them in some way, but as they huddled into a mass around the Kazekage, Ino quickly realized that her help wasn't <em>needed. <em>

Gaara was carried from the room on a stretcher and rushed to the hospital. Despite the annoyed looks Ino continually received from the medical team, she followed the mass all the way to the hospital. When Gaara was rushed into another room however, Ino wasn't allowed to follow. The door was slammed in her face and she was left standing helplessly in the quiet, dimly lit hallway.

Ino paced for a bit outside the door. She wasn't sure exactly how long she was out there, but it felt like an eternity. When her feet began to tire she moved to the waiting area. Over her stay in Suna she'd watched several distraught friends and family members sit in this very room. It was a hard pill to swallow being one of them herself. She'd had to do the same when Shikamaru was first admitted, but even then she was allowed to see him. But not Gaara, he was far too important. He was the Kazekage.

It was interesting to think how out of reach Gaara was to most people, even to his _own _people, when over the time Ino had spent here in this wasteland of a desert, they'd grown so… _close._

And now here she was, heart racing a million miles an hour as she sat helplessly in the waiting room of the very hospital she was currently employed in. This was not a position she particularly _liked _being in, and after Shikamaru, one she hoped she'd never have to be in again. But the universe was cruel like that.

. . . . .

Ino was shaken into consciousness by a blurry figure. She hadn't even noticed she'd fallen asleep. Several attendants whose names she couldn't recall had advised that she go home, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

The figure that had awoken her was none other than Tamari. She looked terrible, which Ino supposed was to be expected. Temari and Kankuro would have been notified almost immediately after Gaara was admitted.

Kankuro was nowhere to be seen; probably standing watch by Gaara's bedside. He was loyal that way. He didn't show it a lot, but Ino could see it easily.

Temari led Ino through the now bustling halls of the hospital to a room on one of the upper floors. Temari talked to the guards standing vigil outside of said room, then held the door open for Ino to enter, then followed the blonde into the room, shutting the door behind them.

And there he was. He almost seemed to be asleep; the blue color was gone from his lips and his skin had regained a more normal pigment, still pale, but more naturally so. Ino just stared for a moment, taking in his entire being, her mind still flashing back to the scene she'd encountered the night before. He'd looked like he was dead. It was a bit scarring.

"He's doing fine now." Temari was the one to break the silence. "They were able to extract the poison in time."

Ino breathed an audible sigh of relief. "Thank goodness." She whispered.

"It's all thanks to you, you know." Ino snapped her head around to stare, confused, at the elder blonde.

"What do you mean?"

"If you hadn't found him when you did, the poison would have spread and they wouldn't have been able to save him."

Ino gaped at the older girl, words escaping her. She had ended up at Gaara's doorstep – so to speak – by pure coincidence. It was hard to imagine that a moment of weakness on her part had been what saved Gaara's life, though she was certainly glad that he was safe. Ino wasn't sure what she would have done had something gone horribly wrong, and she was glad she didn't have to find out; at least not today.

"Well, you certainly had a part to play in finding him as well. No need to sell yourself short." Ino lightly punched Temari in the arm, feeling relieved and a bit back to her normal self with Gaara out of the water.

Temari looked genuinely confused by the girl's statement. "What do you mean?"

"You told me where to find Gaara, in the hallway last night, remember?"

Temari's face hardened. "I wasn't at Kazekage Tower last night, Ino."

Ino froze, the blood all but draining from her face. _Temari wasn't there? But I swore I saw her last night outside of… _

"Oh my god…"

Temari abandoned her post beside the shocked blonde and went to whisper something to one of the guards outside. Ino couldn't hear the conversation, but it wasn't exactly difficult to guess what it was about. The guard nodded and disappeared down the hall. Temari approached the younger blonde again.

"I feel so stupid," Ino began, "I should have realized… I should have been able to _tell_-" Temari stopped Ino's rant.

"It's not your fault, Ino."

"But they were right there, I could have stopped them."

Temari shook her head vigorously. "You couldn't have known. And besides, you weren't the only one in the building that night. You aren't the only one who missed it."

Ino nodded reluctantly. Temari made sense, but despite that, Ino still felt as if she should have been able to tell that that wasn't actually Temari last night; she should have been able to _do _something. But it was too late for that now, and Ino knew that. Dwelling too much on it now would only do her more harm than good.

Ino was brought out of her thoughts when she noticed the previously unconscious redhead shift in his hospital bed. Ino watched as Gaara's eyes slowly cracked open, those beautiful jade irises foggy with the remnants of sleep. He slowly rose into a sitting position, one hand going to his head as he winced slightly, obviously somewhat disoriented.

Ino wasn't sure what came over her, she would surely regret having done this later, but at the moment she didn't really care. Ino launched herself at the redhead, wrapping her arms firmly around his chest and squeezing. After seeing him the way he was last night, pulse weak, skin deathly pale, lips painted blue, she was filled with an indescribable joy at seeing him healthy, alive, and _awake. _

After a moment, to Ino's surprise, she felt a warm arm wrap itself around her shoulders. Gaara kept the other hand on the bed to steady himself, then rested his forehead against Ino's shoulder. Ino stiffened for a moment, shocked by the sudden display, but soon relaxed into the embrace.

She could feel the heavy gazes from everyone else in the room on her back, but to be honest, she just couldn't bring herself to care at that moment. She'd deal with them later; the looks, Temari's questioning, but for now, she was happy just where she was.

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><p><strong>So there it is! Chapter 9. See, I wouldn't do anything too inexplicably horrible to Gaara. I may be cruel (hehe) but I'm not completely horrible ;) Anyway, I once again apologize for updating so late again. I really have been trying to write, I swear, but it's not always easy. I will try harder to update sooner, now that it's summer I certainly have more free time, but writers block is a b**ch, so I can only promise to try. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this newest chapter. Please please PLEASE review, I love reading what you guys have to say :3 <strong>


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